Top 10 most powerful vodka brands

In the fifth of our Power Brand round ups our attention turns to vodka, with the giants of the sector battling it out for a spot in the top 10.

Compiled by the drinks business together with Intangible Business, the Drinks Business Power Brands Report sees the world’s most influential wine and spirits brands pitted against each other to determine the world’s most powerful.

With no exponential growth in Asia to ease the pressure, the ultra-competitive US vodka market has become a battleground where the chosen weapon is often price.

Smirnoff and Absolut have the muscle to maintain and even increase their volumes – but risk losing some of their status in the process.

As the US economy returns to growth, Stuart Whitwell, joint MD of Intangible Business, expects people to be increasingly happy to pay a premium for their chosen spirit. But it may be brands with craft credibility, including Diageo’s Ketel One, which reap the rewards of that, he predicts.

It’s a theory borne out by Bacardi’s recently launched new campaign for Grey Goose, Fly Beyond, which emphasises the artisanal aspects of the luxury brand.

NB: Only international brands with a global distribution are featured in this report.

Methodology

Nearly 200 of the largest brands in the wine and spirits industries were scored by nine panelists to derive a list of the 100 most powerful alcoholic drinks brands. Power is defined by a brand’s ability to generate value for its owner. Value is classified by a series of measures as identified below.

Hard measures

• Price positioning: a measure of a brand’s ability to command a premium • Market scope: the number of markets in which the brand has a significant presence

Soft measures

• Brand awareness: a combination of both prompted and spontaneous awareness

• Brand relevancy: capacity to relate to the brand and a propensity to purchase

• Brand heritage: a brand’s longevity and a measure of how it is embedded in local culture

• Brand perception: loyalty and how close a strong brand image is to a desire for ownership

A panel independently ranked each brand out of 10 on the above measures (10 = high, 0 = low). The scores were aggregated and averaged to reach a total score for each brand. A total score was achieved by multiplying a brand’s weighted volume by its brand score (a derivative of the eight measures of brand strength), within a defined range. The weighting is designed to adjust the volumes to a comparable level.